Klarinet Archive - Posting 000072.txt from 2006/04
From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] symphony update (Klarinet)
Date: Sun, 09 Apr 2006 11:44:32 -0400
Ooops... My mistake. Woodwinds in threes is good, but clarinets
in fours is better. Start a trend. Write for the basset horn.
Dan Leeson
DNLeeson@-----.net
-----Original Message-----
From: Bear Woodson [mailto:bearwoodson@-----.net]
Sent: Sunday, April 09, 2006 12:45 AM
To: Klarinet List
Subject: [kl] symphony update (Klarinet)
Hello, Everyone.
I thought you might be interested to know that
in the last 2 months, I've been busy writing a huge
symphony, that I hope to make over an hour long.
Most of the Main Themes from the First Move-
ment have been "in my ears" for 25 years, or
longer, but I am combining some of the New
Fugal Techniques that I've Invented in the last 2
years. Here is the scoring:
Woodwinds in 3's
6 Horns
3 Trumpets
Euphonium
Tuba
1 Timpanist (4 Timpani)
3 Percussionists
Harp and
Strings
planned movements and timings:
I Moderato (20 to 25 minutes)
(21 1/2 min. done by April 8, 2006)
II fast and jaunty (10 min.)
III slow (15 to 20 min.)
IV fast (15 min.)
(planning at least an hour in length)
A few composers have been writing melodies in
"Retrograde" ("backwards"), in "Inversion"
("upside-down"), and in "Retrograde-Inversion"
(both "backwards and upside-down"), since the
Renaissance.
Johannes Ockeghem (ca. 1410-1497) was the
Renaissance Master who invented the "Cancrizans
Canon", which is when you "overlap the Backwards
Version of a melody with its own Original form, at
the same time". Nowadays we'd call a "Cancrizans
Canon" as a "Retrograde Canon", but I'd be hard
pressed to name any other famous composer who
has done this in Non-12-Tone Harmony. However
I've written several, and all in Chromatic Modal
Harmony.
In like fashion it is possible to write "Inversion
Canons" for which Bach and Mozart wrote a few,
and I've written many. I never did like, nor use "12-
Tone Formulae", and have used Chromatic Modal
Harmony for ALL of my music, including these
kinds of Canons.
I've also written many "Retrograde-Inversion
Canons", and even 6 of my "Quadruple Directional
Stretto Fugues" (all 4 Directions of the Melody
overlapping and harmonizing with itself, all at the
same time) in various works. I did all of these
Canons and 2 "QDS" Fugues in my "Josquin
Fantasy" for Viola and Orchestra last year.
Now in this Symphony I'm again doing all of
these kinds of Canons and 2 more "QDS" Fugues
in the end of this First Movement. I'm also trying
to make it a type of "Concerto for Orchestra", by
giving Long Solos to EACH Wind Instrument,
String Section and First Chair String Soloist in
the 4 planned movements. I've already done most
of these Soles in the First Movement, including a
few nice Solo Passages for the First and Second
Clarinets individually, and together, as well as
for the Bass Clarinet.
And I keep my "Third Woodwind" Players
respectively on Piccolo, English Horn, Bass
Clarinet and Contra Bassoon full time, so they
don't switch instruments during any of my large
works.
Also, in defiance of the Classical Era Tradition
of letting the First Violins HOG the Melody most
of the time, I, like many composers since the Early
20th Century, AVOID giving the Lead Melody to
the First Violins. The Lead Melody is more evenly
divided throughout the orchestra, although I do let
the First Violins usually remain as the Highest
Voice in the String Choir, when the Strings are
accompanying some other instrument.
I hope people will like this symphony, when
it's done. It's full of lyrical, noble, heroic melodies
that bring images of adventure and exploration to
mind. But I still have a lot of work ahead of me.
Bear Woodson
Composer in Tucson, Arizona, USA
"After all my years of study of Modern
Harmony, Counterpoint and Form in Music,
my actual composing is really just a matter of
Taking Dictation from a higher power. When
left to my own strengths, I am worthless,
except as a musical scribe."
- Bear Woodson, (2005)
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